Two leaves containing letters from the initial settlers of "Wadi el Chanin" (later: Ness Ziona) and from R. Naftali Hertz Rabbi of Jaffa, regarding the loan of a Torah scroll for the new synagogue being established in the moshava (settlement). Wadi Chanin and Jaffa, Elul 1893.
• Letter addressed to the Maharil Diskin in Jerusalem, signed by the settlers Mordechai Hochberg and Shlomo Yoffe. Their letter is followed by another letter (2 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Naftali Hertz HaLevi Rabbi of Jaffa and the moshavot, confirming that "there is in the Wadi Chanin colony (=moshava), approximately a minyan (prayer quorum) of men who are requesting as mentioned above… Monday, 23rd Elul 1893, so says Naftali Hertz HaLevi, residing here Jaffa".
The settlers relate in their letter that a "large and magnificent house" has been designated as a place of prayer, since the first synagogue (dedicated by R. Reuven Lehrer, founder of the moshava) had grown small for the increasing number of congregants, and the need arose to establish another minyan. They ask of the Maharil Diskin to attempt to obtain for them a "suitable Torah scroll, so that we should be able to pray at any time with a minyan…". They also relate of the need to set up a new synagogue close to their homes, for fear of the Bedouins "who set up their tents not far from us, and we cannot abandon our homes for the High Holidays…", and due to the fact that "during the rainy season, there are months when we will not be able to pray with a minyan".
• Another letter is enclosed, with the signatures of eleven of the first settlers and founders of the community, confirming reception of the Torah scroll, on loan from the Churva synagogue in the courtyard of R. Yehuda HaChassid, and pledging to return it whenever they would be asked to.
These historic documents, from the early years of the moshava Wadi Chanin (later named: Ness Ziona), document the dedication of a public house as synagogue in 1893 - a fact which is not known from other sources ("Mabat el HeAvar" - in the official website of the Ness Ziona municipality, states that only in 1907 was the cornerstone laid for the first public house, which served at one and the same time as a school, synagogue, meeting place, community center and Haganah house. Today this house serves as the Founder's house museum).
The renowned kabbalist, R. Naftali Hertz HaLevi (Weidenbaum) Rabbi of Jaffa (1852-1902), foremost kabbalist in Lithuania and Jerusalem. He was a disciple of the Maharil Diskin. He immigrated to Jerusalem from Białystok in 1884, and was a leading disseminator of Torah in the city. He delivered halachic lectures in the Degel Torah yeshiva which he founded in Jerusalem, as well as profound lectures on Kabbalah (which were attended by even the elder Lithuanian kabbalists in Jerusalem). In 1886, he was appointed by R. Shmuel Salant as rabbi of Jaffa and the moshavot of Eretz Israel, and was the first rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Jaffa, by appointment of the rabbis of Jerusalem, to oversee the religious matters of the new settlements in Eretz Israel.
[2] leaves. 25.5-29 cm. Good-fair condition. Thin, dry paper, with tears. Adhesive tape to verso.